BillyBaloney

The mutants at AMEX keep sending me letters that I have "qualified for enrollment in the Select & Pay Later" feature, and that if I do not want to be enrolled in this feature, I have to call.

Well, I'm sick of calling the Phillipines. Is there another number that will get me to an agent in the U.S.? I asked the call center in the Phillipines and they tell me that they:

• can't transfer me
• there is no other number

I've called [Phillipines] and asked to not be enrolled and they keep sending letters stating that they will enroll me. Any ideas?

sdsearch

Have you tried chatting with Amex CS online while logged in? Where are those representatives? Does it vary depending on the hour that you chat?

BillyBaloney

The "chat" representatives are poorly trained; it is even worse than calling. Last night the person that I got could not write sentences in proper English.

It is American Express, isn't it? I want to speak with someone from America. That is my dilemna. All I am asking for is a representative in U.S. Does anyone have any ideas?

krazykanuck

Wait to see if they give you a targeted offer with MR points to sign up for this feature and then never use it. That's what I did when I had the PRG.

mia

American Express has changed their strategy. Now they enroll accounts automatically unless the cardholder calls to opt out, that what BillyBaloney is reporting.

sdsearch

More specifics please on your calls.

Where are you calling from (time zone) and when are you calling and who are you talking to? (You mentioned you tried to chat "last night". I've only ever tried chatting or calling in the middle of the USA workday.)

Are you calling a toll-free number or have you called the non-toll-free number?

Is it always Philippines (24/7/365), or does it depend on time of day / day or week?

Are you all the "supervisors" in the Philippines too? (If your issue is that your requests have been ignored, it seems to me you need to elevate even more than change answering agents.)

eajusa

If Amex has already enrolled you in Select and Pay Later, you don't have to use it. Just pay your bill off every month as you have been doing.

BillyBaloney

Yeah, but...

my concern is otherwise. My PRG is a charge card. I don't want that "status" to change to a credit card, should they enroll me in this stupid program without my consent.

I want what I applied for (no changes). I find this move by AMX to be adversarial - only to their benefit not the person who applied.

BillyBaloney

OK here goes:

1) I call during business hours, Mountain Time Zone, usually. Try CHAT feature at all different hours and time zones, employees are untrained, can't write in proper English (go ahead, call me a racist, I don't care) and the CHAT is always unproductive (what they promise in CHAT never materializes).
2) The letter states to call the number on the back of the card, so that is what I do.
3) Always Phillippines (when I request USA, they deny the request).
4) They never let me talk to a supervisor. Too busy...not available...etc.

If there is a non-toll-free number please share. Thx.

krazykanuck

IMO, you're overly concerned about this. I enrolled my PRG in it for the bonus MR points and never used it (why would I?) and I don't remember seeing the status change as it was reported to the credit agencies, granted this was a couple of years ago. If you pay your bill on time and in full every month, which is what I expect you are already doing and will continue to do, it shouldn't make any difference.

Not sure why you're always getting (or think you're getting) the Philippines, or do you ask them where they are. I never get an offshore center on any of my calls to Amex, regardless of the product. If they are offshore, they have the best USA English accents I've ever heard.

I do agree with you that chat is almost completely worthless and that everything I've been promised in a chat has never happened. I personally think they have a well trained monkey that copy pastes phrases and smiley faces until you go away

BillyBaloney

I always ask if they are based in US and then if not I ask where they are based.

In my opinion, I'm not overly concerned. And since it affects MY credit reports, I think it is a valid concern. Thanks for your input. If I had wanted a credit card, I would have APPLIED FOR A CREDIT CARD. Amex doesn't seem to understand this - as demonstrated by their willful actions to enroll me in a stupid program without my consent.

Yoshi212

How is it affecting your credit reports? I've had not change on my report in the past 11 months from Amex since I got my PRG and was enrolled in the select pay program.

I have the PRG and was extended this offer. MY PRG is still a Charge Card and not a credit card. I think this is a way for Amex to market to people who prefer to do as we do by paying off the balance each month but give flexibility on specific transactions. This keeps people thinking of going to a credit card for that flexibility and opens the market to new people that might not have gone for a charge card before. Keep the "prestige" of a Amex Gold card but giving them the options of the Amex Everyday Credit card.

BillyBaloney

That remains to be seen. I however, prefer the terms that I agreed to when I signed up for the PRG. Is that so bad?

Blah, blah, blah, sounds like you are making a sales pitch.

eajusa

For credit reporting purposes, because PRG is a charge card, the amount you owe every month is not added to your total debt and then calculated into your debt to income ratio. This does not change when select and pay later is added to one's account.

Also you must manually select charges to be treated as "select and pay later" on the Amex website. Otherwise they are treated as due before the next statement.

sdsearch

This same sort of feature was added to the Diners Club charge card back when Citi had the North American franchise of DC. It didn't change it from charge card to credit card; it stayed a charge card for many many years after that.

I guess if you used it it would become a separate line of credit. Whether it would appear on your credit report then, I don't know, because I never used my optional credit feature at Diners Club and it never appeared on my credit report.

(In recent years Diners Club North America got taken over by BMO, they morphed the Diners Club card into a card with a stated credit limit and then started reporting to credit bureaus. But that was unrelated to, and about a decade after, Diners Club added such a "select pay over time" feature.)

So I wonder if you're jumping to conclusions that enabling this feature on your account will change it to a credit card? Do you have any evidence of that, or was that simply your assumption?